Weapons against corruption

SGGP 11/28/2023 06:18

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, the world was racing to buy protective equipment, oxygen and ventilators. The countries that acted the fastest and made the best spending decisions had one thing in common: electronic procurement systems. This not only helped to resolve the crisis, but was also crucial in reducing corruption, saving governments billions of dollars, according to the Jakarta Post.

Open electronic bidding for medical equipment helps reduce corruption in the medical sector

How governments spend their money is something most of us don’t pay attention to. But it adds up to a fortune. In 2019, government procurement was estimated to be worth $11 trillion, or about 12% of global GDP. E-procurement helps accelerate this vital spending. Speed ​​is critical in crises like Covid-19. In South Korea, the adoption of e-procurement reduced bid processing times from an average of 30 hours to just two hours. Meanwhile, in Argentina, the public procurement process was reduced by more than 11 days.

Not only does the e-Procurement Anti-Corruption Weapon help governments act faster and more effectively, it also helps reduce corruption. This is important because corruption is a problem worth trillions of dollars globally each year, but it is difficult to find a solution to it.

According to Transparency International, the world is now dealing with corruption as poorly as it was a decade ago. The Copenhagen Consensus Center, a US non-profit research organization, said that of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations from 2016-2030, although halfway through the goal of eliminating corruption, no progress has been made.

Due to its large scale, public procurement is one of the biggest sources of corruption in countries. E-procurement can be seen as an extremely effective solution to tackle corruption. Having a transparent, widely accessible system means that governments can spend less on advertising their tenders.

According to the state of Andhra Pradesh (India), they can save half a million USD on advertising annually, while the figure for the Philippine Government is 9 million USD.

There is also evidence that digitizing public procurement can lead to better monitoring and improved service delivery. One example is India, where road quality improved by 12% after switching to an electronic bidding system. Meanwhile, reforms in Paraguay reduced the proportion of contract processes requiring revisions from 19% in 2013 to 3% in 2016.

The most obvious result of adopting e-procurement is that the government saves a lot of money.

According to research by the Copenhagen Consensus Center, the average cost reduction in public procurement is 6.75%. This means that for low-income countries, maintaining the application of e-procurement for 12 years would save up to $600 million.

According to the Jakarta Post, it can be seen that e-procurement and e-tendering are not only solutions to reduce waste and corruption in public spending but also help build resilience and better prepare for the challenges ahead for each country. This is a policy that countries should pursue.

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/vu-khi-chong-tham-nhung-post715987.html